Some Might Call It An Occupational Hazard
by TechnicoloredPossum
Summary: The dark brown orbs staring unblinkingly back at her were hard and stoic, matching the expression on its face. Rated T. Holix.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Generator Rex.**

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><p><em>He awoke with a start. He felt <em>_**strange**__. _

_He tried to lift his head to shake the cobwebs away, but it was heavier than it should have been. And he could see his own nose. It wasn't the right colour._

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><p>"Come on Rex" Doctor Holiday patiently lifted his arm to pull out the hypodermic needle "You've been through enough of these test to know not to fidget so much." The blood sample went into the analyser, and the doctor turned back to face her young patient.<p>

"I know Doc." The boy in front of her looked a tad despondent. He and Six had come back from a tough mission about two hours ago, both of them physically exhausted; Rex's biometrics had flat lined just before he'd been able to cure the last few EVOs, leaving Six to finish the job. Since then Rex's biometrics had still remained low.

"Don't fret" She gave him a reassuring smile "Your nanites have always pulled through in the end" The machine behind her beeped. She turned and read the information off of the screen.

"Ok Rex, it looks to me as though you've almost completely exhausted your nanite reserves. How many EVOs did you cure again?" She didn't bother to turn back to face him.

"A couple of dozen low level ones, about five level 3s, four level 2s…and about seven level 1s" At the angle he was at he could just see her roll her eyes.

"That'd be why then." She examined the figures again. "Well at the rate your nanites multiply, it'll take you at least 12 hours for you to get back to a functioning level." She said grimly, knowing how frustrated Rex would feel if anything were to happen during the rest of this day. "That means taking you off of active duty."

He hung his head forward; he _knew_ she would say something like that. Having no powers always made him feel useless.

"Hey, come on, you can go see Noah for a few hours; if anything turns up, Six has it covered." She tried for another smile. The kid deserved a decent break once in a while, and Agent Six would probably enjoy the peace and quiet.

The Hispanic teen slid off the examination table, and came over to lean on the desk Holiday was working on.

"Nah, Noah's out on some school trip thing till five." Again he sounded slightly crestfallen. She could guess what was coming next…. "But I could always hang out with you for a while…..we could, say…..go for drinks?"

She couldn't help but smirk. Men are so predictable.

"Not today Rex, I have work to do." She gestured behind her at a small glowing specimen encased in a glass chamber, which she had been studying before he had entered her lab. "They're extremely unstable nanites. And when I say unstable, I mean they do blow up." She had discovered this yesterday, when one of the 'grunts' had dropped the previous batch, and ended up as a nasty mess all over the lab walls. That hadn't been a fun day.

The teen standing next to her gave a heavy sigh.

"Hey, I could always go over to the Purgatory base and take another dip in the nanite bath." That got her attention.

"Don't even think about it, Rex. That was risky the first time you did it, who knows what could happen a second time." The door behind them slid open; she caught a flash of dark green out of the corner of her eye. "And if I find that you do, then there'll be no leaving this base for the next week, I'll make sure of that." She waited for the noise of the agent's agreement from behind her.

"Rrrrrrrrrgggaahhh."

She and Rex spun round simultaneously.

"Shit." The profanity slipped out of her mouth before she even thought about it. Rex's jaw dropped.

Only a couple of feet away from them loomed a very large and threatening-looking EVO.

That was not who she'd expected.

And it was the last thing she wanted to see.

_Why do these things always happen at the worst time possible?_ She swiped up a stun gun from her desk and trained it on the EVO, waiting for it to make a move. Rex slunk behind her. He tried and failed to summon his nanites, growling in frustration. There was nothing he could do to help.

The creature before them had a large, muscular, lizard like body with an elongated neck, and slim features. From its head protruded a pair of very menacing looking blades. It also sported steely sharp claws to each foot, and a tail which ended in a spear-like appendage. But the most defining feature (and the reason why she had mistaken it's identity) was it's colour: the fur covering its scaly armour was a rich shade of green. It looked a bit like something that Six would really want mounted on his wall.

The EVO had frozen to the spot, staring down the barrel of the stun gun.

"Where did it even come from?" Rex's voice whispered from behind her. He had a point. If there had been a breech from either the petting zoo or outside the base then alarms would be going off on every single piece of Providence equipment in the place. That only left one other option. Someone from the base had turned EVO. _Poor soul._

"Ggaarrrraaagggll"

It sounded peeved. Her finger twitched on the trigger, but she didn't shoot. She preferred her lab without big holes in it.

But then it moved forward.

And she fired.

Things seemed to slow down.

The electro-charged missile passed by where its chest had been milliseconds before. It was faster than any EVO she had ever seen. She was the best shot on the entire base, but her aim could not keep up with her target.

Despite it's size, the creature leapt with incredible agility, escaping each and every projectile launched at it. It was impossible for her to predict it's movement, as it sprung erratically from any surface it could, its lithe body twisting to avoid her shots.

Chemicals were swept to the floor as it landed on table tops which exploded seconds later. Rather valuable equipment smashed into thousands of little pieces as a pendulum tail lashed out haphazardly in any direction. Deadly sharp claws tore through tiled walls, which were then instantly covered by black burn marks. Light fittings swung madly as they were used for purchase off of the ceiling, just before they shattered with bright dazzling lights, sending sparks showering.

But then it was falling towards them, arms spread eagle, jaws agape. Before either of them could do anything it was practically on top of them. She felt Rex's arm go around her waist, pulling her backwards.

Claws lashed out toward her. But to her surprise, did not touch her skin.

The gun was batted easily out of her hand, only just caught by the hook of the talon by the trigger guard. But since life was just not that simple, the weapon discharged one final shot over the EVOs shoulder before it clattered to the floor.

The small projectile homed in on the glass enclosure, blowing a neat hole in the surface.

The dull glow of the nanites quickly escalated to a blinding level.

Holiday's eyes grew very wide. Time sped back up.

"Rex, GET DOWN" There was no time to run, she swung an arm around him and slammed his body down with her. This could end really badly. Her entire body tensed up.

The room was suddenly ablaze, and the sound of a thundering _CRACK_ resonated in the lab, along with the noise of shattering glass_,_and then silence. She waited for pain.

...

She blinked an eye open – which she couldn't remember scrunching shut – and found herself looking at a clawed green foot. That _was not_ there before.

"Grrraaaaaghhh"

_Oh my God. _Her head twisted round, and gaped at the EVO that was bracing itself inches above her and Rex (who right now looked about as gormless and confused as her). She scrambled out from beneath it, pulling the arm of the Hispanic teen at the same time. They both stumbled to their feet, ears ringing.

The EVO remained where it was; arms quivered slightly, chest heaving, and bright red blood beginning to matt it's fur.

There was a _very_ large shard of glass protruding from its shoulder.

A moment passed as all three individuals observed one another.

"Well…" Rex broke the trance "...that was unexpected" His voice sounded distant. She was still looking at the pane of glass; its trajectory was positioned to land around where their heads had been seconds before. Execution style.

"Yeah" She was a little lost for words; near death experiences weren't unusual, but self-sacrificing EVOs were. "We're still going to have to detain it though, somehow."

"Oh come on, Doc! Are we really gonna treat it like an animal when it just saved our lives?" He was right. It clearly had some kind of a conscience left; and it certainly didn't deserve The Hole where it would no doubt end up, _or worse_. Holiday remained silent, looking back to the EVO now lying on the floor. The creatures face was turned towards them, and its eyes locked on her.

It was so calm. It _must_ have been a human from this base, she was sure of that; no animal would be able to keep their mind so controlled under such strain. _So it had been someone calm, and self-contained, and someone who apparently cared about their well-being_. No one she could think of fit this description….._other than_…..

She blinked and discarded that last though. _It couldn't be. _She stared into the creature's eyes. _Although….._ The dark brown orbs staring unblinkingly back at her were hard and stoic, matching the expression on its face. But there was a hint of emotion concealed there. Familiarity, trust and hope flickered through them, as they seemed to bore straight back into her soul. She knew those eyes. They'd watched her before, despite her being unable to watch back. Puzzle pieces clicked together in her brain. _It must be him…._

"…Six?"

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><p><strong>AN:** **Basically this whole thing originated from me doodling in one of my chemistry books (should probably have been studying) and watching **_**Dragonheart. **_**And the title? Well, i'm just crap at naming things really. **

**And yes, Six spent the day before walking under ladders and throwing shurikens into mirrors. **

**Any feedback is good, including con-crit (not too harsh though - second fic ever!) and any ideas on whether I should continue it. **


	2. Chapter 2

Until about half an hour ago, Six had been a firm atheist.

What with his line of work and the number of living creatures he was forced to slaughter on a daily basis, he found it difficult to believe that there was some higher power watching over him. The event that occurred half an hour ago to change this view had consisted of him waking up from his catnap, quickly rolling over in bed, and staring at the mirror mounted to his cupboard door.

Not only was he quadruple the size he had been when had fallen asleep, but he was a furry green lizard. And it looked like someone had welded his own katanas to the crown of his head.

God existed alright. And he had a sick sense of humour.

He hadn't panicked of course. Agent Six _never _panicked. Instead, he had quickly exited his room, lumbering uncoordinatedly until he got the hang of walking horizontally, and carefully navigated the corridors of Providence (easily avoiding the detection of other staff, as well as evading mounted surveillance cameras) until he had ended up slipping silently through the doors of Holiday's lab, where he then caused all hell to break loose.

For some unknown reason his still foggy brain had told him that the people closest to him would instantly recognise who he was. _What an idiot_.

Which is why, he reasoned, he deserved the pain that was now emanating from his right shoulder. And also the reason why he had been staring convincingly into Doctor Holiday's confused emerald eyes for the past two and a half minutes.

"...Six?"

It had barely been a whisper, but he could not help the relief that flooded over him upon hearing it.

"**YES!"**He tried to vocalise, but the noise that came out of his mouth sounded more like a bear being strangled by a wolf, causing the two humans to flinch. And so he was reduced to madly nodding his head up and down like a performing seal.

This whole experience was getting more humiliating by the second.

Once his young ward had recovered from the shock, Rex approached him with great hesitation, and placed a hand on his uninjured shoulder. Blue lines appeared momentarily, followed by a "ffzzzzzzzz" sound, and then silence, nothing happened. He wasn't surprised in the least. Somewhere up there, God was on the verge of wetting himself.

"Sorry, Six" Rex's brow furrowed, genuinely worried. He'd probably cover that up though, with some smartass remark….."But on the bright side, you'd make a great rug."

Six glared at the kid.

Behind them, Holiday was hurriedly removing plugs from sockets and rooting around for an unbroken screen, seemingly unconcerned at the state of her once pristine workspace. When she found what she was looking for, she brought it over and set it up on the table nearest to them.

"White, we have a serious situation." The screen flickered to life, projecting a very familiar face into the room. White looked as unimpressed as ever when his eyes found Six's new form.

"What is _that_ doing there?"

"_That_ is Six." She re-adjusted the screen so that it faced her, not the green EVO. "And he's going to be stuck like that until Rex gets his powers back in just under twelve hours from now. He's lucid at the moment, but he may not stay that way." White's eyebrows rose slightly as he contemplated this new threat. With anyone else he would probably throw them under lock and key, but Six was a valuable agent, ex-partner and supposedly friend. On the other hand, the EVO had one been the sixth most deadly man on the planet, which logically meant that he would be he posed a great danger to the base.

"He can stay in the zoo for now. I'll send a team down to escort him." The man on the screen looked away for a moment, considering that last statement. "And if it gets out of control, kill it." The screen switched off.

Six glared daggers at the space his bosses face had been moments before. Apparently his emotions were a lot more uncontrollable in EVO form.

He wasn't an _animal. _He could still understand _English_. And he didn't need an _escort. _

He managed to force the anger back down, and obey his orders (as always), waiting only for Holiday to sort out his shoulder, take a blood sample, and clip what looked like a giant collar around his neck. Rex stood a few meters away, sniggering.

"It's a tracking device, just in case anything….happens" She said as he slowly moved to the door, and was greeted by a small squadron of Providence lackies.

And so a few minutes later, he had been left to roam free in the petting zoo.

He spent half an hour experimenting with the fact that he now had a fifth limb - jumping from tree to tree was much easier with a tail, it was like a rudder. He had come to the conclusion that when it came to being an EVO, he didn't have it that bad: he was still vaguely recognisable as himself, and he still had complete control of his own body. That was an improvement on most EVOs he'd seen.

Six then decided to take a trip to The Hole, where he spend over half an hour having a long and _**very interesting**_ exchange (of sorts) with Ms Holiday.

After having been forced out of The Hole by high-pitched howls, he spent a further ten minutes loitering near the armoured door which lead to freedom, willing something interesting to happen.

His stomach decided to loudly inform him that it was dinner time. And he was about to go in search of something edible-looking when he heard the sound of the door opening, followed by heeled shoes on dirt.

He looked up to see Doctor Holiday approach him, and craned his neck forward and downward to be at eye-level with her. She was holding a plate of something that smelt like monkeys and roast chicken. His eyes widen slightly. _Is she psychic? _

"What?" She said, observing his expression. "Had you forgotten what day it is?" She set the plate down, it contained a whole chicken. "Bobo cooked an extra one for you."

She stood back and watched him quickly gulp the meat down in one go.

"Six..." Her voice became very serious, making him look up. "I've examined your nanites, and I've got no idea how you're staying sane through this...but, they're multiplying at an exponential rate." She brought out a scanning device from one of her pockets, waving it across him. "Two hours ago, you were a level 3 EVO, but now you would be considered a level 2." She stopped waving and scrunched her eyebrows together, staring at the ground. "Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

He lowered his head in a small nod.

"The scale is non-linear: I don't know how long it will take you to become a level 1. But I do know that by that time it may become very difficult for you to control it...and if Rex doesn't get his nanites back pretty soon, it may become irreversible" She looked up to meet his gaze with doleful eyes.

She lifted one soft hand to the side of his face: something she'd never do had he been human. "...just hold on in there. Ok?_"_

_Don't like it when she looks sad. _He thought, and ever so slightly leant into the hand that was cupping his cheek. At the same time he tried to make a reassuring sound, which came out as a deep rumble in the back of his throat.

His tactic succeeded, and her face lit up with a soft smile.

The warm kind of glowing feeling that spread through his chest was something that he had experienced before, but had always managed to stomp back down into his closely guarded human heart.

That was the moment that he blacked out.

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><p><strong>So…..was it worth continuing it? <strong>

**I won't be able to update this again for a week or so, thanks to the E word (exams D:) but I do have plans for it, and they do end in Holix (and some Rex father-son fluff) **

**Please review and tell me what you think :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Rex idly played with the slab of chicken that was literally swimming in the gravy contained on his _bowl_ of a plate.

Ok, so Bobo didn't really understand the concept of being a chef, and his gravy was runny enough to put in Six's coffee, but still, 'Family Fridays' had started to feel more natural recently. More like they were a real family.

He took a moment to look around the room. It was empty other than him and the monkey seated at the table.

He sighed faintly, propped his elbow on the table and sunk his cheek into his hand. At least there would be no evening training session later.

"So, how's the green bean?" Came the gruff voice from across the room. Though to an outsider's point of view, Bobo's relationship with the older agent was practically glacial, it amused Rex to know that the monkey was secretly concerned. Or maybe he was just making conversation. Who knew.

"He's doing fine, last I heard" He replied almost nonchalantly. It wasn't that he didn't care; it was just that he didn't want to think about it. He was unable to help his mentor the one time he truly needed it. But he wasn't worried. Holiday was down there now, probably trying to fuss over him (_Lucky guy)._ She had left the room over 10 minutes ago, mumbling something about nano-mechanical replication, and looking pretty stressed out. _Don't like it when she looks sad_.

Rex blinked.

The thought had seemingly popped out of nowhere.

Before he could address this, Rex felt another odd sensation creep through him. It was like a switch at the back of his mind had been flicked off. As though a connection had been broken that he never realised existed in the first place.

"You ok, kid?" Bobo had noticed his change in pallor, but before he could answer, the comm that was still in his ear buzzed to life with the voice of a very frantic Holiday:

"_Rex, I need you in the petting zoo. NOW." _She sounded out of breath, and in the background he could hear something screeching. _"And bring a gun!" _On the other end of the line, something made a _crack _sound, and the comm fell silent.

"Doc?" He was answered with static.

Rex wasted no time.

In one movement, he swept his chair out from beneath him, grabbed his monkey by the arm, ran out of the door, and began sprinting through the corridors of Providence. He paused only when he nearly ran into one of the patrolling agents, and easily snatched the man's weapon away from him, shouting an apology over his shoulder. He then rounded the corner and slammed his hand on the pass key to the door of the petting zoo, before he remembered that he could no longer control technology, and he hurriedly jabbed his fingers at the keys.

"What's the damn code for this thing?" He smooshed his palm into the panel in frustration. Silently cursing his short attention span for whenever Holiday must have told it to him. But then his hand was quickly removed by a darker, more leathery one, and the door swished open. He looked up at Bobo in surprise.

"It's the same as the security cash vault" The monkey explained, before shuffling through the door.

The sight that greeted them was not a pretty one.

Quite a few trees had been felled, a lot of them scratched though to the bark. There were the bodies of several (clearly dead) EVOs sprawled over various parts of the landscape, many of which had been ripped to shreds. Among the bodies lay Doctor Holiday. Blood was slowly seeping out of a deep cut in her head, but to Rex's great relief she still seemed to be breathing.

And in the middle of it all stood the large green EVO, who's eyes were wild and cold as it stared at the human and the monkey who had apparently intruded upon it. Six clearly didn't recognise them. In fact, Rex didn't know whether the EVO could be called Six anyone.

For a second, Rex considered calling up White on his comm for help, but he was instantly reminded of the brutality of Providence protocol. And there was no way they were gonna kill Six on his watch.

The EVO in question growled threateningly at them. It was some meters away, but Rex knew it could cover the distance easily. He cocked the gun he was holding, and aimed it at the green EVO.

"Come on, Six. Snap out of it!" He knew it was wishful thinking, but it was worth a try. He reeaaallllyyy wished he had his powers right now.

The EVO twisted it's slim body around fluidly, screamed out a furious noise and began charging at them. Rex tried to fire off a few shots near its feet, but failed dismally. He had never been good at using weapons which weren't actually attached to his own body.

Bobo however had no such hindrance.

The monkey was literally in his element as he swung himself upwards onto a tree above, shooting at his moving target all the while, which seemed to infuriate the dragon-like creature more, since it leapt after him, and caught him by the front of his shirt in its jaws. It swiftly coiled its neck back, and catapulting the smaller animal over its shoulder and into the shrubbery meters away, before turning and advancing quickly on Rex.

"Six, please." Rex shouted over the sound of his gun. "I know you don't like me sometimes, but you'd probably regret killing me!" The EVO didn't register his voice. It's eyes were glazed and emotionless. It easily dodged the poorly aimed shots until it was a few feet away.

It raised one large paw and batted Rex across the chest, claws just piercing his skin, and sending the teen's body flying until his back struck one of the surrounding trees, which he slid down with a groan. He realised that his situation was pretty futile: on an everyday basis, when Rex was the super powered EVO, and Six was the normal human, the agent would win against him more often than not. So what chance did he stand now?

The EVO's shadow quickly covered him.

Rex lowered his head. Right about now he would normally hear the _"shnk"_ of katanas being drawn and crossed above him, forming a shield. No such luck. He waited for something bad to happen, but when it didn't, he slowly raised his head to look up at the EVO.

It's face was inches from his own.

It's breath smelt like mints.

But it's eyes –_ No, his_ eyes – were back to being a warm deep brown, flecked with confusion. For a fleeting moment, Rex realised why Six always wore those glasses. His eyes were expressive.

Six stepped back, and took in his surroundings. His eyes settled on the unconscious Doctor Holiday.

Almost faster than Rex could follow, the EVO in front of him turned tail and headed for the emergency exit, slicing across it as though it were made of paper, and ramming it open.

Dust from the sandy expanse outside flew up and obscured the view as Six galloped out into the desert. His figure quickly disappeared from view.

Rex could only sit and stare.

"What just happened?" He mumbled, partly to himself and partly to the primate who appeared from the undergrowth, grunting and dusting down his fez. Bobo glanced up briefly to give his gruff reply.

"I think we just met Mr Hyde."

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><p><strong>AN: Do monkeys read English literature? Yes! **

**Why have I updated before I said I would? Because I'm so goddamn bored of shoving my head in a textbook! Oh, and thank you for the luck Peacexfreedom :)**

**Does anyone else write in a non-chronological order? I hope so, cos if not then I'm abnormal! **

**Please review :) **


	4. Chapter 4

White Knight was very confusion; something completely unforeseen had just happened.

Minutes ago he had been sitting in his little white room, happily playing a giant game of Minesweeper across the three computer displays he had set up (it had been a slow day) when he had been ambushed by a sickening shade of blue flashing over the white walls of his chamber combined with a screeching wailing noise.

Cyan alert: meaning that the walls of the Petting Zoo had been breached (They had run out of normal coloured alerts long ago).

No prizes for guessing whos team had caused such a disturbance.

"What happened?" White shouted over the wailing into one of the many microphones attached to his desk. When he was answered with silence, he immediately dispatched more security guards to the zoo, and flicked on the security cameras. The petting zoo looked like a bomb had gone off in it, and there was a suspiciously EVO-Six sized hole in the back wall. He had seen that one coming. However, he was surprised to see that there was no sign of human life in the surrounding area.

The blue-green flashing suddenly took on a shade of magenta.

Magenta alert means full lock down.

_What the hell?_

White was about to address whatever miscalculation had caused the base to lock down in response to a small breech, when he found that all three of his displays had frozen. Something very bad was definitely happening.

That was the moment when a monkey's face appeared on his middle screen.

"Ah, Mr Man." That damned ape looked particularly smug with himself; he was sitting in the cockpit of a jump jet. "Just givin' you a call to say we're poppin' out for a few hours...but we'll be back before dinner" The monkey grinned wider "Don't take it the wrong way, but we'd rather not have company, so we're leaving you in the good hands of Mr. Salazar"

On the screen to his right, the face of a Hispanic man appeared.

"Hey Boss" The elder Salazar brother also looked slightly timid. "I kinda owe my little brother a huge favour." White couldn't believe it. Was this some kind of mutiny? "But don't sweat it, if anything serious happens, I'll unlock everything."

Before White could get a word in edgeways, the screen on his left flicked to life, bearing the face of a Hispanic teen.

"Just think of it like this, sir." Rex's voice was almost sarcastically formal. "You've spent the past five years in lockdown, so you'll barely notice the difference." He grinned merrily, clearly pleased with himself for pulling off this ultimate escape act. White was beginning to actually see red.

He opened his mouth to demand what the hell was going on, but the three faces in front of him hastily disappeared, almost simultaneously. White slammed both hands down on the key board in front of him, infuriated. He knew there had to be a problem with hiring an irreplaceable scientist whom had an IQ practically three times the size of his own. And who was related to Rex.

So he was now left alone, with no communications, no surveillance cameras, no hazmat suit, no updating, no control and _no_ minesweeper. Just a man in a white box.

When this thing ended, heads were going to roll.

oooooooooooOOOOOooooooooooo

Six blinked back with confusion, but his vision remained hazy. He had clearly missed a beat.

A moment ago, he'd been running as fast as this hideous new body could carry him (which he had to admit, was pretty damn fast) away from Providence base, in a desperate attempt to get away from his team.

But now he suddenly found himself standing stock still in a place which smelt like cow manure and death….a slaughter house maybe? He genuinely had no idea. He couldn't even tell whether he was still in the desert.

It was strange. He had never felt regret before, despite all of the horrible things that he had done in his life. This was only because One had once told him that regret will kill you. Eat you from the inside out, he'd said. _So why do I feel so remorseful now?_ Emotions are confusing when you're suddenly forced to face them…..

His eyesight was beginning to make a gradual reappearance, the same way it did last time.

Six found himself looking at the ground. There was a dark blurry shape of a person was lying close to his feet, its body seemed discolour, and misshaped. He realised that it was the source of the smell of death; it wasn't difficult to determine how they had died. He stared in horror as the persons face materialised. She was a woman, once upon a time a pretty woman, with long ebony hair and crystal eyes now staring out, unseeing. She looked uncomfortably familiar.

A noise coming from a few meters away from him alerted him that he was not alone.

Six looked up cautiously, and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun, not for the first time today.

The man holding the shotgun had an expression that screamed 'deer caught in the headlights' and was shaking all over, scared shitless. Probably from whatever horrible act he had seen Six do seconds ago. As his vision cleared further, Six could see tears tracking down the man's cheeks. He couldn't help feel a pang of empathy: the person at his feet was probably the guy's wife.

Six considered his situation for a moment. He was never one for the easy way out. Neither was he a coward. But maybe, it would be better just going like this. He was destined to die fighting one way or another….if that happened to be fighting from the wrong side, then be that as it may. It was necessary. Who knows how many more people he would murder before Rex had his power back, and after all, he would be doing his job: getting rid of EVOs, saving innocent people's lives, and more importantly, protecting the people he was assigned to, even if it was from himself.

"**Shoot me**." Had he been human, the sentence would have come out in a low threatening tone, but the inhuman growling noise that came out instead had the same effect. The man clutched his gun closer, but did not pull the trigger.

Six could feel little squiggly lines begin to obscure his vision. He tried to hold it back.

"**SHOOT ME, while you have the chance!**" He took a step forward and tried to intimidate the man further, but it was no use, the human was frozen to the spot in sheer terror.

It was too late now; he could feel himself slipping.

oooooooooooOOOOOooooooooooo

Doctor Holiday was slightly confused, but that was thanks to a concussion.

She realised that she should be mad, stark raving mad. Because not only had she been knocked unconscious by her rampaging EVO partner, but she had also been virtually kidnapped by her ward and probably now considered to be part of some kind of plot against White Knight. If things didn't start looking up soon, she could easily end up losing her job and that would mean her sister losing her sanctuary. But for some reason, none of that seemed important right now. The only thing that mattered was getting her partner back.

The problem was that they had completely lost Six.

The first thing the man-come-EVO had done once he had exited the building was to rip off the tracker she had placed around his neck. There had been a brief delay when Rex had apparently carried her chivalrously into the nearest jump jet (supposedly, the combined effort of an intelligent ape and a boy would be stretched in finding a destructively oversized lizard) and by then any sign of the EVO had gone completely off the radar. Holiday knew for a fact that if Agent Six didn't want to be found, then he would not be found.

That had been about eight hours ago. And the only lead they'd had to follow was a distress call from an isolated farm house, which turned out to be deserted by the time they got there. Holiday had never quite realised how large the desert actually was, or how dark it could get.

The nanite detector attached on the ship only had a certain range, and without the continuous back up from The Keep, it was going to be incredibly difficult to locate a single EVO in the mass expanse of the desert. She was in the process of boosting the signal, but her brain wasn't entirely working at full capacity, though her head had stopped bleeding hours ago. She found her mind easily wondering.

Behind her, Rex was sitting in the cargo bay, strapped into his seat. The boy looked particularly lost in thought; he had barely said anything since his brief communication with White. But she couldn't blame him for wanting to get Six back safely; after all, his keeper would not hesitate to do the same if roles were reversed.

"Scientifically speaking, is there such a thing as being psychic?" His question seemed to pop out of thin air, and it was said in an innocent, childish tone. It conjured images of the fair ground, when her parents would take her and her sister to see the fortune teller, and they'd ride the rollercoaster, eat cotton candy, and laze happily in the sun together…

She snapped back to reality.

"No Rex, there isn't." She really couldn't be bothered to go into one of his deep question right now. It required way too much concentration, of which her supply was already waning.

She found that she actually missed the presence of her partner. Anyone else might be surprised by this, because the man was regarded as an intimidating bore by most of Providence, however she knew better. She found his direct approach to be efficient. She found his stoicism to be calming. She found his silent strength to be reassuring. She found that he always made her feel...safe.

And there was the fact that he was the most _damn attractive_ man she had ever seen.

_Keep your thoughts professional, Holiday. That's the concussion talking._

The screen that she had been staring at fruitlessly chose that moment to beep into life, and the oscillating radar scan picked up a tiny blob on the periphery of its range. The signal was pretty weak, but still, it existed. And if it turned out to be another EVO desert rat, then she would probably go insane.

Holiday flicked on the comm to their pilot (She wasn't particularly happy that they were in the hands of a primate) and at the same time sent him the co-ordinates.

"You know what to do." She said as soon as Bobo's face appearing in front of her.

"Got it." He said, stifling a yawn.

She could feel the ship lurch onto a different course, causing her head to swim more than it had been before. She really did hope this waiting game ended pretty soon; the whole thing made her uncomfortable.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I know it would probably never happen on the show, so I'm sorry, but I just HAD to do that to White! Also, I'm not a massive fan of Caesar, but I put him in there just for the lols...he can take all the blame. **

**This isn't turning out quite as expected, but seeing as it's kinda writing itself at the moment, I can't help it! **

**Reviews make me very happy, and make me want to give this story a decently happy ending :o**


	5. Chapter 5

"We've got a four-one-nine, I repeat, a four-one-nine at the Hicc's Spring Farm. Send back-up and forensics. Delivery guy reported them – two bodies. Pretty torn up. Looks like an EVO attack."

César's head shot up from his desk.

An EVO attack?

The desert's pretty sparsely populated. Even by EVO standards.

And one EVO came to mind.

César slammed his hand down on the police radio, shutting it up. Listening to the thing had been one of his many bizarre childhood hobbies – but he'd left it on this time out of paranoia, though he was tracking his brother's progress anyway.

Perhaps he had let this thing go too far.

He had hoped that the EVO still had some sense of humanity left in him. But considering how free willingly the man would kill other people when he was human, César wasn't too surprised. The creature was more than dangerous – it was deadly. And he'd just let his little brother go after it, while in a very vulnerable condition.

His hand hovered over the comm link to White.

But surely he couldn't do that to Rex – he'd promised him that he'd keep White away. That way, they could sort out the EVO problem without anyone dying (though _that_ obviously hadn't worked.)

Personally, he didn't even understand why Rex was so loyal to the man: the older agent was cold-hearted and unfriendly, yet Rex seemed to practically idolise him. Though César did understand that Rex saw him as a sort of surrogate father, the whole relationship didn't make sense to César, since he could remember their real father – who had been a large and jolly man. Nothing like the stoic agent.

César watched the tracker on the active jet move very slowly on his screen, knowing that in reality it was moving at far greater speeds. They were only about 10 miles from base, surprisingly. And there was the faint blip of EVO activity not far from their position. They were on course to meet it.

César knew that he'd much rather see the Agent die than see his brother die.

He let his hand fall on the comm.

"I'll unlock the base if you make sure my brother's safe."

White's face went from boredom, to surprise, to a relieved smile.

oooooooooooOOOOOooooooooooo

Midnight in a desert is a cold and lonely place.

The moon and stars were blocked out with a thick cloud. The air was unusually heavy; and very occasionally, somewhere off in the distance, the sky would faintly light up with sheet lightning. But it was too far away to hear the combining thunder, which only enhanced the feeling of eeriness.

His strong sense of spatial awareness allowed him to limp on confidently without tripping between the flashes of illumination. His head was hanging low in grim determination, ignoring the small bullet lodged awkwardly in the flesh of his forearm. He had been going like this for literally longer than he could remember, with no water and no rest. Occasionally, he would black out and find himself in a slightly different setting – maybe with a different type of cactus nearby, the light fading more each time until it had finally disappeared altogether, leaving him in pitch blackness.

It was only recently that he had started to recognise the landscape around him, not form having been there before, but from looking at maps of the area surrounding Providence.

He knew exactly where his feet were taking him, and regretfully it wasn't another part of the uninhabited dessert he'd been marching through all night. Nope, instead he was heading straight for the closest settlement to the secluded Providence base, which happened to be a small Mexican town, with a population of about 2,000 people and a location over 30 miles from any chance of help from Providence. And he knew exactly what would happen if he managed to reach it.

The formerly known Agent Six was staring to very much wish that he had woken up dead.

Another flash lit up the sky, and it highlighted the large, cliff-like rocks which stood in his path, several hundred meters away. And a plan formed quickly in his mind as he increased his pace towards them.

Only one objective stood out clearly: he needed to stay away from people, and people needed to stay away from him. However, he was labouring under no illusion; he knew that Rex and Holiday would be out searching for him, also that they had a talent of approaching things in a much more emotional way in situations such as these, which could well lead to things going awry. This put them at the very top of the list of people he didn't want to bump into.

Reaching the base of the mountainous landforms, Six strode wearily around the perimeter, until he caught sight of exactly what he was searching for.

A large boulder almost obstructed the view of the entrance to the cave. It was hidden in the foundation of the rock, and from the smell Six was getting form it, it had long been uninhabited by any larger creatures such as himself.

His willowy body slid through the gap with ease, and he found himself in further darkness, barely being about to make out the large cavern he was now standing in.

Testing the acoustics, Six stomped one heavy foot against the cold stone floor, only to hear the noise repeated back to him. Finding this satisfactory, he pressed one saber-like ear to the wall of the cave and heard the gentle patter of small pebbles rolling down the opposite side of the surface. He had found himself the perfect dungeon.

Six took a moment to remember why he was signing this potential death wish. He briefly reassured himself that by the time his team would find him, Rex would be capable of protecting himself and Holiday, and hopefully it would all end in another triumphant win for team Providence, with a hundreds of potential lives saved. That is, if his good karma started to finally pay off.

He took a deep breath, and stood back, angling his head to the ceiling of the cave.

The noise that left his mouth rivalled that of Circe's standard. His chest actually ached with the vibrations of the howl. And just for added effect, he put all of his might into slamming his bulky body into the wall of the cave, creating further vibrations.

This did not last long, however, since Six quickly ran out of air.

On the verge of collapsing from exhausting, he sat back on his haunches and puffed in oxygen, unsure whether his plan had worked.

But then from somewhere far above him, came a very auspicious creaking noise, followed by the rumble of stone against stone.

Age-old dust immediately covered his entire body, and had he been able to see anything, he might have been able to avoid the considerable amount of rocks falling towards him.

oooooooooooOOOOOooooooooooo

Rex jerked up in his seat.

His dream had been so real, that it had _almost_ scared him.

"Rex, you ok?" He looked up at to see the Doctor. Her eyes were not as keenly staring at him as they usually were, and he could see the stress lines on her cheeks. The messy bandage that Rex had carefully placed around her forehead while she was unconscious was now stained darker. She looked drained.

"I could ask you the same thing, Doc." He said gently, and was rewarded with a smile. Holiday had mellowed out a little since they had first started their trek. Although saying that, about twenty minutes ago their last lead on an EVO signal had turned out to just be a large pack of EVO'd desert rats. Which for some unknown reason had nearly sent the very tired doctor over the edge.

"I'm fine." She expressed her denial. "I just don't understand how we haven't found Six yet." She mumbled, shaking her head slightly. Their failure in finding their friend had been hapless, because by now they had scanned almost the entire desert and yet somehow come up with nothing. As if Six had evaporated into thin air.

To their side, the comm beeped and Bobo's familiar face once again appeared.

"People, I have some news that you really ain't gonna enjoy."

The image of the monkeys face went blank for a second, before a second image appeared.

It was that of a very smug looking Knight.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So, after much spamming of my inbox (can I just say a BIG thanks to all the people who reviewed/ favourited, cos it's more than I ever expected) I motivated myself to start this story up again! **

**I do apologise if the last section is a bit short, it was very rushed. Also, I realise the order of everything might be a bit confusing. Just take it that the first section of this chapter is happening at the same time as the last section of the previous chapter. **

**Oh, and have you noticed what I'm trying to hint at between Rex and Six yet? (It is NOT that they're gay for each other *slaps back the hands of SEX shippers*)**

**Please Review :) **


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